


Straylight

by SuddenPainter



Series: Nightcall [1]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, Explicit Language, F/M, Fluff, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:08:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29010285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuddenPainter/pseuds/SuddenPainter
Summary: Series of one-offs following V on his escapades around Night City and beyond. Can be read as a series or standalone.Cyberpunk created an amazing world and gave us some incredibly memorable characters, but unfortunately didn’t let us spend that much time with many of them. These stories will fill in a few blanks, exploring V’s relationships, particularly with Panam, and adding some richness to Night City.You can also expect plenty of references to other games, books, films, etc. - I can’t help it, it’s too fun.
Relationships: Panam Palmer & Male V, Panam Palmer/Male V, Panam Palmer/V
Series: Nightcall [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128197
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	Straylight

**Author's Note:**

> This story is split into two directly linked parts. 
> 
> Part 1: V takes up a very well-paying contract and makes an unusual acquaintance.  
> Part 2: V takes Panam for a surprise ride.

“Observe, record, but do not interfere” - Wakako’s directions for this gig were very specific. V was to spy on some corp big-shot whose wife wanted to prove he was cheating so she could get his car collection when she divorced him. As the fixer phrased it over the phone, it seemed to V that the client wanted to divorce anyway, but clearly did not want to lose out on a single eddie over it. Normally, he would never take such stupid jobs, but even Johnny whistled when the contract reward flashed on the screen.

“One hell of a car collection this guy must have.” 

“I am almost tempted to pay them a visit after this, see if they have anything interesting that I can’t get in Night City…” 

“... but Wakako would not approve you using intel from a client to then rob said client, so you will not tempt yourself” 

“Stop reading my mind, you know I hate it when you do that!”

“Then stop thinking so loud, sometimes I think one doesn’t need to be embedded in your brain to hear your cogs turning in there.”

“Fuck you too, Johnny.” 

——

The corp had a secret flat he rented in one of the luxury towers downtown - discovery of it was what made the wife suspicious in the first place. Wakako strongly implied V would have to sneak inside and hide somewhere. Admittedly, the idea of hiding and observing something he shouldn’t see happening gave him chills - last time he did that he ended up crawling from a landfill with a digitised terrorist eating at his brain. No, he would have to find another way. Client insisted he scroll a BD of the experience as “camera footage can be easily doctored”, to which V couldn’t help but chuckle to himself “you clearly never met Judy, or you wouldn’t hold such faith in BDs either”. V would have to actually have eye contact in order to fulfil the job. Again, not something he would ever agree to if it wasn’t for a giant stack of eddies that awaited him at the other end. 

Luckily, the building right next to the tower in question was a hotel, and by the looks of it had rooms high enough that V could see into the building across without a problem. All buildings in the area looked like glass boxes, so he did not expect to have an issue with visibility. 

Hotel Straylight was surprisingly empty, although V wasn’t sure what he expected of the lobby of a luxury hotel in the middle of the week in the first place. At least he wasn’t risking being shot at by an army of Arasaka guards, like with his last luxury hotel stay. This job kept reminding him of the heist. 

“Welcome to Straylight sir, the most discreet hotel in Night City!”

Receptionist’s tone felt exceptionally try-hard, “Must be new to the job - makes sure to pass probation, and earn a few eddies in tips probably” V thought to himself, shuddering at the memory of constant terror of being the next grunt out the door in his early corpo days. “Never going back again, that’s for sure” - not that he could anyway, he already gained himself enough reputation as a merc to be blacklisted from any ‘normal’ corpo employment for the rest of his life, and being a ‘merc on a corpo leash’ felt like the worst of both worlds. 

V snapped out of his brief trip down memory lane to see the receptionist patiently looking at him in wait of an answer.

“Room for one, two nights - somewhere east-facing, between 35th and 37th floor please - I can pay extra if needed”, Wakako was clearly getting a good cut herself, he even had an expense budget on this one. 

“Certainly sir, your room is 3509. Wellness centre and pool are on level 25, and the business centre is on 26th. If you need access to a netrunner chair, we have a full suite available - just dial the reception to arrange a time slot.” 

V blinked, slightly startled - the receptionist responded so quickly, without touching the console at all. Must have been a neural link to the room database, V heard about them being piloted in some hotels a while back when he used to travel for work, guess it has been that long since - they were widely available everywhere. 

“Something about this guy is really weird, but I can’t quite place it,” Johnny materialised in V’s vision right next to the clerk, staring just a few inches away from his face, knowing nobody but V could see or feel him. “Let’s make sure our room isn’t bugged up for some creepy voyeur website or some other shit.” 

The irony of that statement given the reason they were even there clearly did not occur to Johnny in the slightest. 

——

The room was the perfect vantage point to observe the whole floor across them. As expected, nobody bothered to shutter the windows - V had already spotted a couple going at it in the kitchen. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the target, otherwise he may have even been able to refund the 2nd night stay. The job might actually be easy for once.

His intel showed that the corp usually worked in the office till 7, despite “pulling late nights every day” from what his wife was told, so V knew he had a bit of time to relax. 

Being a great netrunner made V lazy at making any extra movements when it came to controlling electronics - it was much easier to hack the aircon from the couch than stand up and adjust it manually. V didn’t even think twice before launching a quick hack overlay on his Kiroshis and sending a ping to the thermostat. 

“Sir, I would kindly ask you to refrain from tampering with hotel equipment,” the receptionist’s voice came out of nowhere, just as V was about to upload an override daemon. 

A cyberpsycho jumping from under the bed would surprise V less than that. In less than a second, V was up, pistol in hand, ready to blast the head off the creep - except there was no one in sight. 

“I KNEW there was something fucked up about him,” Johnny couldn’t hide the fact that he was startled as much as V. 

“I apologise for startling you sir, that was not my intention. I am merely trying to ensure integrity of the hotel property - if you wanted to adjust the temperature in the room you could just ask out loud.” 

V and Johnny’s minds connected the dots simultaneously, sharing a knowing look. 

“He is an AI, V”, as usual Johnny had to be the one to do the reveal, even if it was painfully obvious to V as well.

“This is an AI hotel?” V wanted to be sure.

“Yes sir, Straylight is fully managed by AI, that would be me. Gibson, at your service sir.” 

As he spoke, what V previously assumed was a light fixture projected an image of a person, looking exactly the same as the receptionist downstairs but wearing a room service-style uniform. The projection bowed to V. 

“I have adjusted the temperature by 4 degrees - I believe that was the command you wanted to send earlier? Is there anything else I could do for you sir?” 

“First an AI cab driver, now an AI hotel. What next? Can we order an AI joy toy in here as well?” Johnny scoffed, clearly annoyed that his digital nature gave him no advantage of easily discerning AIs from real people. There was truly no benefit to being an engram. “At least ask him if you can smoke in here, I need a cig after all of this.” 

“Fuck off, Johnny, I told you - you get to smoke only if you do something useful for once.” V got quite used to talking to Johnny without saying things out loud by accident, although he was sure AI wouldn’t care. 

“No, thank you Gibson. I would like to not be disturbed during my stay unless I request to.” The thought of an AI indirectly observing his snooping wasn’t the most comfortable of thoughts. 

“As you wish sir, I can guarantee you will not be disturbed. I will suspend any observation protocols except for a subroutine that will listen out for my name being said - in case you need something. I assure you, Straylight is very serious about maintaining our clients’ absolute privacy.” Ah yes, ‘the most discreet hotel in Night City’ - same as with Delamain, one has to hire the services of an AI to get any form of privacy in this city. “If you are in the mood for a refreshment, our bar is at your service. We are quite famous for our cocktails.”

And just like that, the projection vanished and V was back on his own, actively focusing on pushing away Johnny’s subliminal signals urging him to light up a cigarette. 

——

The job itself went so smoothly, V was almost bored. Right on schedule, the corp arrived at the flat at 7:30 on the dot. He showered and changed into an obnoxious-looking bathrobe and went on to set up champagne and candles. The only deviation from the plan was that the ‘guest’ turned out to be a couple. “Each to their own” V thought - it didn’t change anything for him anyway. 20 minutes felt like more than enough material. 

V transferred the BD file to Wakako straight away in case the client would have any qualms - he didn’t want anything to prevent him from getting the payout, not when he already had to sit through the whole thing. Luckily, the client confirmed quickly and funds hit his account within minutes. It felt like everyone wanted this to be done and over with as fast as possible.

In a great mood that comes with a great payday, V decided to make use of the extra time he had left to actually relax for a bit. He didn’t take time off since… that time with Jackie… Well, Jackie would definitely approve of his plan to try the full range of these supposedly famous cocktails. 

——

The bar was located at the top floor of the hotel and had one hell of a view. It was certainly livelier than the lobby was, but only slightly. V guessed that given the private nature of the hotel, most of the business was conducted in the rooms. There were no tables, only a very long bar that snaked throughout the room. He soon saw why - even though the bar was tended by Gibson’s holograms, they could not actually mix anything. Drinks just appeared from somewhere under the bar through openings placed in front of every seat. The AI was really running the whole thing. 

“Welcome sir, glad to see you at our bar. May I have your order?” 

V was out of his element - if it wasn’t beer or tequila, Jackie would normally order for him. It was time to learn on his own. “Give me something strong.” 

“A martini then.” 

“Sure, sounds good.” The drink appeared almost as soon as he confirmed the order. If he didn’t know the AI was in charge, he would suspect this was just a bottled drink poured into a fancy glass. The drink was great, but it had some small green berry of some sort that V had never seen before. Asking an AI felt less stupid than potentially biting into a plastic decoration so V looked up at the projection, “what is this thing in the glass? Is it edible?” 

“Absolutely sir, it’s a synth-olive. I apologise, the original recipe calls for a real one but I am afraid sourcing that would make the cost prohibitive to my clientele.” 

“Hm, never had one before, but it’s pretty good!” 

The drink didn’t last long and got refilled exceptionally quickly. “This kind of efficiency is very dangerous,” thought V - getting drunk on his own didn’t sound fun at this time. 

To give himself something to do, he waved at Gibson, who promptly materialised in front of him. “Is something wrong with the drink, sir?” 

“No, no - the drink is great,” V admitted honestly, “I just wanted to ask you a few things, never met an AI hotel manager before.”

“Certainly, sir. I will be happy to provide entertainment in the form of a conversation. What would you like to discuss?” 

“Hey, do you know Delamain? He is an AI that operates the cabs in Night City.” V had no idea how to start this question and given that he knew Del well enough, he felt he could draw parallels there. 

“What kind of gonk question is that V? Do you think just because they are both AIs they are all friends? Maybe they meet in some AI club, playing poker and shooting shit about crappy customers?” Johnny would not miss an opportunity to point out when V was a gonk, no matter how small of a reason to. V was happy to do the same back, often resulting in what can only be described as gonk-offs. 

“I am aware of him, sir - we share some clients. He is also an AI.” Gibson shared Del’s factual approach to answers, but lacked his wit, or simply did not make any attempts to behave closer to that of a human. 

“Why do you run a hotel? What happened to the human owners?”

“My human proprietor realised that it was impossible to guarantee privacy while having any humans working on the premises - ‘temptation was too strong’ he used to say, so I have always managed the hotel on my own. He passed away last year, but nobody arrived so I just kept running the business as per my original directive. I see no reason to stop.” 

V couldn’t argue with that. He wondered how many AIs around the world just kept running things without anyone realising they have no human input whatsoever. Ironic, given how terrified everyone was by the rogue AIs. V had no intention of ousting Gibson - there was no reason to. If his friendship with Del - Johnny snorted internally at the thought of V referring to it as ‘friendship’, taught him anything is that AIs were reliable to a fault, as long as they weren’t out to kill you. Del quite literally saved his and Takemuro’s lives, perhaps Gibson will come in helpful later on as well. If not, at least he now had a more reliable, and pleasant, place to conduct discreet business than the No-Tell Motel. 

His phone beeped - text from Panam. V’s face lit up immediately, prompting another mocking snort from inside his head. 

< Hey V, what’s up? When are you planning to come by the camp again? >

V couldn’t let the opportunity like this slide.

< Would that mean that you…. Miss me? > he shot back.

< This is not what I meant… it’s just… Mitch was asking about you >

< Ah, Mitch, of course - and he couldn’t text me himself… >

< You are insufferable. FINE. Yes, I like having you around. Happy? >

< Maybe… You will have to tell me more in person… Unless you changed your mind of course ;) >

< I don’t change my mind easily, even when you are being a gonk.> Panam refused to yield, quickly following up with another < Gonk. > for good measure. 

“Good news, I take it, sir?” V didn’t realise he was staring right at the hologram, which AI interpreted as a que V wanted to chat. 

“That was my, uh, girlfriend…” Five drinks and a habit of being as straight with an AI as they were with him, V’s filter was way off. It dawned on him with a delay as well, which promptly caused him to turn red. If the AI saw anything, he didn’t comment. Johnny already got bored of mocking him for his ‘pitiful’ reactions to Panam, plus as they shared a brain now he was well aware V has already thought of her as his girlfriend for a while. Saying it out loud was new, but as they say - ‘drunk words, sober thoughts’ or whatever the saying was. Johnny was just glad he didn’t have to deal with the fallout of him blurting it out in front of the Nomads. Not like they didn’t know already - Johnny was certain there was a bet going round on who says it first. 

“On this note, I think it’s a good time to retreat,” V wanted to avoid any questions from the AI, and it was late as is. He did need sleep from time to time, no matter how much he sometimes acted as if he didn’t. 

Back in his room, V crashed on his bed, as usual missing the pillow completely. He couldn’t remember when he got his weird habit of sleeping sideways on the bed, perhaps because that was the easiest way to crash after 14-hour minimum working days at Arasaka… He slept differently when it was with Panam… Thought of sleeping with her made him smile, but also made him slightly regret staying here, when he could be sleeping with her. IF she would have him of course, he still couldn’t let himself get used to the fact she actually wanted him around that much. 

——

“I hope you enjoyed your stay sir, we hope to see you again soon!” Gibson-the-receptionist recited as V paid the bill. Synth-olives or not, drinks were certainly not cheap, but the payout was so good, V didn’t mind. 

Now that he said the G-word out loud, it was fully solidified in his mind. He just hoped Panam thought of him the same way, even if she didn’t say it. 

“And sir, in case you wish to bring your partner with you, we have a great Honeymoon Suite,” the hologram added. Driving return customers was one of the primary directives after all. 

“Ha, here you thought you made it out unscathed,” Johnny’s smug smirk was unbearable, but V wanted to get to his car as soon as possible, so he let him have this one. 

An AI-run hotel stay in a glass shard in the middle of Night City’s corporate stronghold was certainly not Panam’s idea of a romantic time. 

V was yet to figure out what it was. 

——

Several days of mulling over what Panam  _ would like _ , he finally had it!

Well, he  _ almost _ had it. V had zoned in on what Panam would describe as an ‘outline of a plan’. He knew what he needed to do, sort-of-knew what he had to get to do it, and no idea how exactly to acquire all that his plan hinged on in order to be successful. Still, V was almost certain that if he pulled it off - Panam would love it. 

The tricky part was that to make this feel different from the time they hijacked a train, V would need to find what may be the rarest location in or around Night City - somewhere without light pollution.

It had to be somewhere in the Badlands, but even the Badlands were littered with power plants, biodomes and mining posts. Even scattered Nomad camps were lit up enough to dim the night sky. V wanted it to be truly special, and for that he needed to find a spot that was truly remote. Easier said than done. 

After a full day of mostly fruitless research, V realised why Nomads were so comfortable in the Badlands - the area was generally undocumented, even the zones immediately adjacent to Night City were not fully mapped in the official archives.

There was no money in mapping the desert, so the desert was not mapped. 

Official and legal channels exhausted, V turned to the next logical option - espionage and thievery. From his Arasaka days, he knew that Militech had at least two satellites permanently fixated at Night City and a hundred-mile area around it - warning system established after the last corpo war. Hacking into a war satellite was out of the question - even with his skills, ICE on those things was set to fry anyone without a triple biometric signature. V counted on the human factor - getting someone with access to ‘accidentally’ take a few images of the surrounding desert was a much easier, and safer solution. 

——

At this point, he no longer needed to call in advance to meet with Rogue. Lending your body for a date and an almost-one-night-stand gets you that kind of privilege. 

“Is this biz, or is this Johnny?” Privileges or not, Rogue was consistent in her attitude.

“Biz, certainly not Johnny - he thinks this is a total waste of your time and I am being an idiot for even considering it.” 

“You had me at Johnny disapproving - what is this about?”

“I need to get access to someone at Militech who can snap a few sat-views of the Badlands around Night City.” 

“Do I want to know what you are looking for in those snaps?” Rogue was testing if there was a share of profit to be made.

“Certainly not if she intends to keep the contents of her stomach in place…” Johnny was projecting himself right behind Rogue to make sure V saw the full extent of his disgust and disapproval.

“There is no money to be made here, this is something else” V knew being dishonest with the queen of the Afterlife would not get him anywhere.

“If Panam left you, seeking her out with satellites will only get you dead, you know that, right?” Rogue was joking, but V was 80% positive that would actually be true in practice. 

“No, no, it’s nothing like that - we are very good actually,” V was grateful for all the circulatory implants that could help him suppress blushing when it came to discussions like that. “I just want to find a certain place, that is all.” 

“Fine, be mysterious if you like, I am too bored of this already anyway.” Rogue’s eyes flashed blue for a second as she was either contacting someone or pulling a relevant data source; “Here’s where you can find one of the Militech satellite operators who had clearance to take custom snaps.” 

V raised an eyebrow. There was no way this info would come without a price or conditions. 

“What do you want in exchange, Rogue?” 

“Glad you asked. I think we can help each other, actually. As it happens, I could use some sat imagery myself. Just make sure you also grab some high-res images of the Arasaka waterfront and that obnoxious carrier they still have parked over there, and we are even.” 

Of course, a job like this would normally cost a fortune, particularly as there were only a handful of mercs in NC, V included, that would be both confident and capable enough to pull it off. And here he was, offering to do the work pro-bono. 

“Fine, what difference would a few more snaps make anyway?”

——

“Stealth is easy when there is nobody left standing to spot you.” - advice V took from a fellow solo, a bald guy in a suit he met when she arrived at a job late, warehouse floor already littered with Tyger Claws. After picking up some truly nasty quickhacks from Bartmoss’s cyberdeck, V had really seen that advice in a new perspective. He could flatline an entire building-worth of guards with just one clear line-of-sight. By the end of his intrusion, he would have full control of the building, including any security cameras and turrets. He opted for non-lethal take-downs where possible, but for some truly evil fucks, V had no qualms with leaving entire buildings full of fried brains. 

Breaking into the Militech outpost was a perfect way to show off his skills. Every guard and robot were connected to the same network, so V could move through the complex silently, picking off targets one by one without altering suspicion all while being clearly aware where everyone was situated. He took extra care to avoid the observation room so as to not accidentally fry the analyst he needed to get into the satellite system. 

After swiping the access card from a comatose guard, V snuck into the observation room, pausing briefly at the sight of the Night City viewed from thousands of miles above. Ensuring they would not be disturbed, V made himself present to the analyst bent over one of the consoles.The analyst’s first reaction was a light startle, which quickly turned into primal fear when he realised that the panic button triggered no alarm. 

“Hey, hey, let’s be civil about this. You have nothing to worry about. Most of your friends are just unconscious, even though many will need to replace their implants. I just need you to take a few snaps of the area for me, and we can both go our separate ways.” 

Militech clearly didn’t pay or scare their employees enough, because that was all the encouragement the guy needed. 20 minutes later, V had full-scale snaps of the Badlands, Arasaka Waterfront and most of Night City, for good measure, riding on a shard in his pocket. 

He kept his promise - the analyst was unharmed, V even gave him Wakako’s details - she was a pro at getting people out of Night City. The merc doubted it would come to this though, the more likely scenario would be that Militech would just ensure this kind of intrusion would never happen again. 

——

A few days later, V, with a smug grin on his face, was driving towards the sacred spot, all the while giving Panam conflicting answers to the barrage of questions as to not give anything away. Panam was NOT happy with being left in the dark as to where they were going, particularly as V insisted he would need to drive her rig. Relinquishing this much control put Panam on edge, the only reason she agreed was the fact that it was V who was asking. 

Admittedly, V was so eager to do this that he would call Panam right after the Militech base heist, but he knew better - needed to make sure Militech would not go after him afterwards. Nothing ruins a date like a drone bombardment. 

The journey was long - it would take at least half a day for them to get there. As it turned out, only one place satisfied V’s criteria, and it was truly in the middle of nowhere. 

Dusk was settling on the plains just as they arrived at the spot. V cunningly named the waypoint a ‘rest stop’ as to not raise any suspicions. Panam was convinced V was lost and was playing it down, so she did not quiz him further when he said they should stop for the night and set up a campfire. A pair of grilled synth-steaks later, two of them were lying on the back of her rig, Panam snuggly leaning into his side - her preferred position in situations like this. 

“Funny, this reminds me of that time we hijacked the train… to hijack the panzer.” Panam wrapped her arm around him as she said that. 

“It was the first time when you really showed how much you like to stargaze.” 

“That’s true, although I could tell you would rather be doing other things.” 

“Honestly, all I could think of was that you were the most beautiful sight out there.” 

V was sure he had seen a hint of blushing on Panam’s face, although the uneven lighting coming from the truck’s headlights and cabin made it hard to tell for sure. 

“Speaking of stars…” V pinged a quick command to the rig’s control unit, shutting down the car’s lights altogether, killing their only source of light. The sky lit up, as if the brightness of the stars was turned up instead.

“What the….” Panam’s eyes filled with a sense of childlike wonder, darting to the corners of the sky, trying to take in the full breadth of the glorious sight above her. “...V do you see this, the stars are so bright tonight…” that is when she realised something, lifting herself up slightly turning her gaze to the surrounding desert. “Wait a minute…” 

V couldn’t help but chuckle - combination of Panam’s startled wonder and satisfaction of successfully pulling a sneaky one on her were too much. 

“You planned this all along didn’t you?! What is this place?!” 

V was laughing at this point. “This is only the most remote place this side of the border - furthest away from any source of light as it is physically possible in the neon nightmare that is Night CIty.” 

“I have no idea how you found this, but I have never, ever seen the stars so bright.” Panam’s gaze was firmly fixated on the sky above. “Even riding out of camp there were still hints of lights from one place or the other…” 

“So what are you trying to say is that this is better than that time we hijacked a train?” V was not done scoring points here.

Panam didn’t say anything, just looked at him with an expression of deep thought. V suddenly got scared he pushed it too far and was about to get a slap. 

Instead, Panam launched at him with incredible urgency, her lips meeting his face in a fraction of a second. 

“Of course this is better, you stupid,” she whispered as she was peppering his face with soft kisses, “this is so much better, there is no comparison.” 

V wanted to say something to taunt Panam, but he had never seen her being so tender, he could not help but wrap his hands around her, not too tight, just to make sure she couldn’t go anywhere and kept kissing him the way she was. 

——-

Panam didn’t intend to be soft and gentle forever. Soon the kissing became more eager, more purposeful. V did not mind at all and reciprocated in full. 

Many long, but also too short, minutes later, they both realised that the top of the rig was not the best place for this - the back bench was wide and spacious enough for both of them, with added cover from the winds and dust. 

Motivation strong, they relocated to the cabin in no time. Yet, just as V settled comfortably with one of his legs pushing against the front seat for balance, Panam stopped suddenly. 

“Wait, we are in the middle of nowhere. Aren’t you worried about Raffen Shiv or fuck-knows-who-else stumbling onto us?” 

V couldn’t help but pull another smug smile at the question he had considered almost first thing after this plan’s inception. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve synced Skippy with the turret interface - he will watch over us.” 

An immediate flash of pure fury flashed in Panam’s eyes - someone plugged an AI in her precious rig?! V’s feeling of smugness and content at having it all figured out while having his dream woman on top of him vanished momentarily as he realised that he may have made an unforgivable transgression. 

Luckily for him and his well being, Panam’s expression relaxed almost as quickly as it tensed, “Clever, I appreciate it.” She kissed him again. “But if I find out that you’ve messed with my rig again, I will shove that smart gun so far up your….” 

“No need to go into the descriptives, I get it! I had the best intentions at heart, I promise!”

“You better. Now, how about you give me a reason to not shoot you tomorrow for hacking into my precious….” 

V would be worried about his own wellbeing, given that Panam was yet to find out that he had upgraded the ancient software on her rig too, but the sight of the nomad sitting up and pulling up at her tank top made any other thoughts vanish in an instant. 

If he was to die tomorrow - the Relic, Militech, or Panam’s wrath, it would have been worth it. 

——

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
